# You can have dinner with one famous person who shares your birthday **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 4, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086 "2013-01-04T17:54:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/61 "2013-01-04T21:31:40Z")
As a big baseball fan, I’d have to go with Lou Boudreau. I’d bask in his stories of winning the World Series as a young player-manager, and his years as a broadcaster for my favorite team. I’d pay, since he hasn’t had much of an income stream since his death. Runners-up include James Cagney, Art Linkletter, Phyllis Diller, Donald Sutherland, Spencer Davis, and David Hasselhoff (as long as dinner isn’t a fast-food cheeseburger on the floor). ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/62 "2013-01-04T21:35:43Z")
Etta James ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/63 "2013-01-04T21:41:59Z")
Gary Oldman. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/64 "2013-01-04T21:44:42Z")
John F. Kennedy, Jr., so I can punch him in the face for causing the death of his wife and sister-in-law and destroying a perfectly good plane just because he was too incompetent to listen to the professional pilots who were saying they weren’t going to fly that night because it was too dangerous, so he could fly across the water to an island in the dark so he could attempt a landing at an airport that was going to be closed when he got there. But I’m not bitter. Or maybe Amy Grant. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/65 "2013-01-04T21:52:10Z")
Booker T Washington ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/66 "2013-01-04T21:56:45Z")
I think I’ll have to go with Thomas Hobbes, although I’d have a bunch of reading to do beforehand if I’d want to do justice to the occasion. Then again, Bette Davis would be fun… ---
**Author:** ![Mnemnosyne](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mnemnosyne/32/3347_2.png) [@Mnemnosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mnemnosyne)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/67 "2013-01-04T22:17:10Z")
I don’t have a lot that I’m interested in, so it’d probably be a choice between Andrew Carnegie and Ricardo Montalban. Carnegie seems like an interesting person considering his achievements, and Montalban played interesting roles, especially Khan. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/68 "2013-01-04T22:31:12Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Notables on my list are: > > Myrna Loy > Carroll O’Connor > Peter O’Toole > Garth Hudson > Wes Craven > Victoria Jackson > > I think Garth Hudson would be the most entertaining person for me. I’d like to hear about touring with Dylan, and also the many other musicians with whom he’s performed over the years. I have Teddy Roosevelt - CHARGE!!! But I would happily trade him for Peter O’Toole. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/69 "2013-01-04T22:54:30Z")
I believe I’d have to go with Dolly Parton. Edgar Allen Poe would be interesting, as would Janis Joplin, but I bet they’d hog all they booze. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/70 "2013-01-04T22:55:34Z")
My choices boil down to quite a few, actually: Sterling Hayden, Nancy Pelosi, Steven Tyler, Martin Short, Strother Martin, Sandra Day O’Connor, Keira Knightly…but the winner would probably be **Leonard Nimoy**. ---
**Author:** ![jools](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@jools](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jools)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/71 "2013-01-04T22:56:23Z")
Well out of the choices I have, that I know: Davy Crockett Mae West Maureen O’Hara Robert DeNiro Belinda Carlisle Sean Penn Donnie Wahlberg Davy Crockett might have horrible table manners so he’s out. Not sure Mae West would pay any attention to me, though maybe I could get some tricks from her. Sean Penn, too darn serious. I would have to go with one of my all time favorite actor **Robert DeNiro** , don’t know how exciting the dinner would be but I could learn a lot about movies! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/72 "2013-01-04T22:58:08Z")
> [@For You](#): > > Gerard Depardieu might be able to learn me some Русский. Why would you want a Frenchman to teach you Russian??? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![MentalGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/439d5e/32.png) [@MentalGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MentalGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/73 "2013-01-04T23:30:41Z")
I think I will pass on Byron Nelson, Betty Friedan, Conrad Bain, George A. Romero, David Brenner, Dan Quayle, Alice Cooper, Lawrence Taylor, and Clint Black and have dinner with either Charles Lindbergh or Rosa Parks. I think I would choose Rosa Parks, and I don’t mind paying. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/74 "2013-01-04T23:43:27Z")
Hmmm. After looking at my birth date I have narrowed the list down to 3. James Randi, Mata Hari or Charlize Theron. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/75 "2013-01-04T23:56:49Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Soren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx… I gotta go with Ann B. Davis, who played the Alice the maid on the Brady Bunch. Tina Yothers is a close second. We have the same birthday. I’d go with either Karl Marx or Michael Palin, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/76 "2013-01-05T00:19:34Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Why would you want a Frenchman to teach you Russian??? 😕 Offended with France’s tax reform which (unfairly?) targets the rich, Depardieu has renounced his French citizenship. Putin has apparently offered him Russian citizenship. Google it for yourself. As weird as it is. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/77 "2013-01-05T00:24:20Z")
Well, since I share a b’day with one of my favorite fictional characters, I have to choose Archie Goodwin, Nero Wolfe’s assistant. I would offer to pay but really would hope for an invite to Wolfe’s house. I’d give a lot for one of Fritz’s meals. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/78 "2013-01-05T00:26:37Z")
Hrm…tough toss-up. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Bat Masterson, or Scott Joplin. Dang. I don’t speak french, and cannot paint or speak of art; nor can I play the piano or speak of musical history. But I bet Masterson has a couple of stories he’d already dined out on, and perhaps he could give me some shooting lessons after. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/79 "2013-01-05T00:36:19Z")
Huey Lewis? Edie Falco? P.T. Barnum? I think I’ll go with Barnum. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/80 "2013-01-05T01:20:42Z")
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